


vigilante-ing is just one giant question mark

by Quillium



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020), DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23370442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quillium/pseuds/Quillium
Summary: “It’s an offer,” Dinah says, folding her hands over her lap, “It’s showing what she can do. It might be a power play—showing that she could destroy us.”“She works with Batman,” Renee says, “Would Batman destroy us?”OR: The newly founded Birds of Prey, trying to figure everything out.
Relationships: Helena Bertinelli & Dinah Lance & Renee Montoya
Comments: 14
Kudos: 56





	vigilante-ing is just one giant question mark

**Author's Note:**

> Heya kiddos. Hope y'all are doing well, taking care of yourselves. Remember to drink your water, eat three meals a day, get lots of sleep. I know that it feels weird but don't pressure yourself to be productive or anything, okay? You're doing your best and I'm proud of you. You got this. (Please ignore all plot holes I wrote this at like midnight)

The Bat Man appears in their kitchen at 3am.

This would be more alarming if he hadn’t texted Dinah the day previous, asking _mind if I drop in sometime_? He signed it “the Bat Man”.

Dinah doesn’t know how he got the number. When she didn’t respond, the Bat Man sent a message through Jim Gordon who confirmed that, in fact, this was not a prank, but the real deal.

“You couldn’t pick a reasonable hour?” she asks groggily, running her fingers through Helena’s hair. They just got her asleep after another nightmare.

“Sorry,” The Bat Man says, sounding genuinely contrite, “I had to tuck Robin in bed, first—I wasn’t sure how this meeting would go.”

“I get it,” Dinah says, surprised that the Bat Man decided to explain himself to her—even more that it was a pretty good reason, “I’ve kinda got a kid, too.”

“Cassandra,” the Bat Man agrees, “I’m sorry for not taking care of her.”

Dinah offers a wry smile, “Just because you’re the Bat Man doesn’t mean that you can protect every kid in Gotham.”

“She’s different,” the Bat Man shifts a bit, and then sits down, “She’s a clone of… the daughter of a close friend.”

Dinah’s hand freezes in the middle of Helena’s hair, fingers hovering over her temple, “You mean… she’s a clone of Cassandra Wayne?”

A grim nod.

“What did you—“

“I thought that it’d be safest to send her into foster care,” Batman hunches his shoulders, “Bruce—Wayne—already has so many kids—and I didn’t want to endanger her—I mean, since the Waynes have so many assassination attempts—“

“It’s okay,” Dinah says, looking down, “You don’t have to justify yourself to me. And—I get it. You did what you thought best. The foster care system is way better after all the things Wayne did to rework it.”

“Still,” the Bat Man shuffles, awkwardly, and then says, “I came here for threat assessment.”

“You gonna pick a fight?

“They aren’t the same thing,” the Bat Man says, wearily, like he’s said that a lot.

“You gotta admit, you give off that vibe—who says _threat assessment_ when they’re talking to a potential ally?”

“I thought it would be best if I was straightforward about my intentions.”

“Right. Which are… threat assessment.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t want to have to deal with more Harley Quinns?”

“Harley’s alright,” the Bat Man does a maybe-smile. It’s more like his mouth is slanted. Upwards. It’s weird, okay?

“You send her to jail a lot for ‘okay’.”

“She murders people.”

That’s fair. “That’s fair,” Dinah concedes, “And if we murder people…?”

“I would rather you not,” the Bat Man says.

“Helena’s killed.”

“She’s unlikely to do so again.”

“If she does—will you come after her?”

“I do believe that murder is wrong,” the Bat Man says.

“But you owe us. For the kid.”

“By letting you murder the parents of other children?”

Dinah frowns, “Okay. Well. It’s moot point, anyways—we’re not going to murder.”

“I figured,” the Bat Man extends a gloved hand, “I look forward to working with your group. The Birds of Prey, was it?”

“Yeah.”

“Do inform Miss Montoya that you may be receiving… help, in the future.”

“From you?”

A sigh, “From… an ally.”

“An ally.”

“Yes,” the Bat Man says.

Dinah shakes her head, laughs, and when she looks up again, the Bat Man has vanished.

__

Oracle calls on a Tuesday night. That’s not really important, Dinah just happened to know because Tuesdays are movie nights and Oracle’s first words are: “I’ll make this short, I know that you guys are going to see Frozen 2.”

“I don’t want to know how you knew that,” Renee says, putting the phone on speaker, even though Dinah knows that Oracle knows that Renee knows that Oracle knows that Renee _does_ want to know.

“It’s pretty easy to track something that you aren’t trying to hide,” Oracle says lightly.

“Is that a threat?” Helena demands. She’s been working on the intimidation factor in the mirror. It’s super cute.

“No, no. Just pointing out a weakness. As allies—I assume Batman told you about me?”

“Oh,” Dinah snaps her fingers, “That was you? The ally that he mentioned?”

“When he showed up way past any reasonable person’s bedtime? Yeah. I’m Oracle and I’d like to be in on your operation. Don’t get me wrong—the boys are nice, but it’s kind of awkward.”

“You work with Batman?”

“Have for about as long as Robin.”

“Which one?”

“The first.”

“Damn.”

“If you two worked together so long, why is it awkward?”

“I dated Robin—the first one—and now we’re… not dating.”

“Oh.”

“It was mutual. We’re both still very close.”

“You don’t need to…”

“Right. I just—I can provide information. Resources. I’m pretty good with technology—I know that you can do well without me. But I can make things easier, more efficient. Four brains are better than one, right?”

“How do we know that we can trust you?”

“You don’t. You can never know. You can only trust.”

“Seems like if someone gets hurt by this deal, it’ll be us.”

Oracle hums.

“We’ll sleep on it.”

“Sounds good,” Oracle says, “I’ll even leave you a little gift.”

“What?”

“It’s on your computer.”

“I— _what_?”

__

“She left the Riccardo files that we’ve spent the last two weeks searching for,” Renee says, chewing on her thumb nail, “Just like that. That’s her gift.”

“It’s an offer,” Dinah says, folding her hands over her lap, “It’s showing what she can do. It might be a power play—showing that she could destroy us.”

“She works with Batman,” Renee says, “Would Batman destroy us?”

“Not this subtly,” Helena muses.

“Yeah, he’s more the punch in the face and string upside down at the police station type.”

“As far as we know.”

“Holy shit.”

“Right?”

“Oh my god.”

“What if they’re planning to destroy us?”

“Why bother with the long game?”

Helena groans and smashes her head on the table, “This is too complicated. Let’s just take the information and go fight.”

“What if it’s a trap?”

“Why would it be a trap? Batman could beat us up.”

“I mean, I think we could—“

“Plus, he’s got the Justice League on his side.”

“That’s so valid.”

“Oh my god.”

“Wait, is Batman _actually_ planning to work with us?”

“Batman’s _associate_.”

“Even better.”

“…I say we trust the info.”

“Okay. Everyone in favour, say aye.”

A chorus of _aye_ ’s.

“Are we leaving Cass with Harley again?”

“…I mean, she’s not _that_ bad of an influence.”

“She fed her a box of Lucky Charms.”

“That isn’t so bad.”

“She’s a _criminal_.”

“Okay, but consider: she babysits for _free_.”

“She’s partially raising Cass, too, you know.”

A moment of silence as they all digest the fact that Harley Quinn is helping to raise Cass.

“…Let’s go fight.”

“Yeah.”

“Yep.”

**Author's Note:**

> [My Tumblr](https://quilliumwrites.tumblr.com/)


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